I began studying media for my A-Levels, my reason for choosing this subject; I knew that one of the projects on this course was in making a film trailer. I love films and the way that they create this whole new world, one that you can delve into and become infatuated by the visuals, story and most of the time, the acting. One thing that my first Media Studies teacher said to me will always stick in my head, she said that "This course will ruin the way you will look at films from now on." A part of this is true but over the years I have reworded her statement..."Media Studies will change the way you look at the world", this has now become a moto for my professional career in Media and it's not only true for films because it can be transferred to every media platform. Looking back at this class I didn't really anticipate the other 95% of it, with which we would look at the textual analysis of films and print media. In hindsight I think I thrived more within the theoretic aspect. I loved looking at the theory of how things began and how it has aged over the years and of course looking at critically analyzing the how's of why's of this.
I have done a lot of projects surrounding media, I love photography and images and I enjoy filming things and then spending hours editing and fine tuning it, so that I can share it with the world. Which brings me back to my first ponderings about what media is to me, it is all about sharing. Whether you are sharing information, images or videos.
The course at Liverpool John Moores blew me away as soon as I researched all about it, from the online and digital aspects to the critical thinking and finally to the creative side.
In year one of this course we delved into the documentary spectrum, my groups looked at and addressed local issues in Liverpool:
As well as profiling one of Liverpool's most up and coming DJ's:
University is all about work experience and I really think that it helps you to "get your foot in the door"- so to speak. I worked with a couple of companies such as 'Geek Chic' where I helped with live projections.
In the future I would be looking to combine all of my experience and creativity so that I can find 'the perfect job', I am not sure what field specifically but until then I am hoping to get an intership with the BBC or any other mainstream media mogul.
The way I use media as both a consumer and producer is watching films and television, my online profile on many of the social networks and also broadcasting all of my videos to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/lauharrington1?feature=mhee
Sharing information with the rest of the world really. Isn't it?
